Method and system for providing network based target advertising

ABSTRACT

A telecommunication system implements a method for providing a targeted on-line advertisement to a user accessing a content provider node of the system. The system further comprises an ad selection node and an user identification node. A user signal indicative of an information request is routed through the system to determine a geographic location of the user and/or a demographic profile of the geographic location. An advertiser corresponding to the geographic location and/or demographic profile is thereafter communicated to the user.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of, and claims the benefit of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/361,757, filed on Jan. 20, 2013, which is acontinuation of U.S. application Ser. No. 10/172,492, filed on Jun. 14,2002, entitled Method and System for Providing Network Based TargetAdvertising, the teachings of which are incorporated herein byreference. This application further claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/298,329, filed Jun. 14, 2001, entitledMethod and System of Providing Targeted On-line Advertising to aConsumer Accessing a Website; U.S. Provisional Application No.60/333,324, filed Nov. 26, 2001, entitled Method and System of ProvidingTargeted Online Advertising to a Consumer Accessing a Website; and U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/362,297, filed Mar. 7, 2002, entitledMethod and System of Providing Network Based Target Advertising, theteachings of which are incorporated herein in their entireties byreference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to the advertising of goods andservices. More specifically, the present invention relates to thetargeted distribution of advertisements over a network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The networked world, particularly the Internet and World Wide Web (WWW),has provided numerous new opportunities, formats and mediums for theadvertisement of product and services. Early forms of advertising werenot based upon a geographic location or demographic profile of theviewers and listeners of the advertisements. Over the past severalyears, there has been a movement toward target advertising of theviewers and listeners based on their geographic location and demographicprofile. The present invention is an advancement of this movement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of atelecommunication system of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a contentprovider node of the FIG. 1 telecommunication system;

FIG. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of an adselection node of the FIG. 1 telecommunication system;

FIG. 4 illustrates a schematic diagram of one embodiment of a useridentification node of the FIG. 1 telecommunication system;

FIG. 5 illustrates fictitious advertising regions within the state ofIllinois;

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of an advertisement definition page;

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of an advertisement destinationdefinition page;

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of an advertisement quantity andduration definition page;

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of an advertisement web site andcategory definition page;

FIG. 10 illustrates a first embodiment of an advertisement geographiclocation definition page;

FIG. 11 illustrates a second embodiment of an advertisement geographiclocation definition page;

FIG. 12 illustrates one embodiment of an advertisement demographicdefinition page;

FIG. 13 illustrates one embodiment of an advertisement coupon page;

FIG. 14 illustrates one embodiment of a client extranet login page;

FIG. 15 illustrates one embodiment of a web site category anddemographic interface;

FIG. 16 illustrates one embodiment of an administrative extranet homepage;

FIG. 17 illustrates one embodiment of an advertisement details page;

FIG. 18 illustrates one embodiment of a publication details page;

FIG. 19 illustrates one embodiment of an account details page;

FIG. 20 illustrates one embodiment of an advertiser details page;

FIG. 21 illustrates one embodiment of a web site details page;

FIG. 22 illustrates one embodiment of an administrative utility page;

FIG. 23 illustrates one embodiment of a web site administrator's page;

FIG. 24 illustrates a flowchart representative of a base advertisementdelivery method of the present invention as implemented by the FIG. 1telecommunication system;

FIG. 25 illustrates a flowchart representative of a web-basedadvertisement delivery method of the present invention as implemented bythe FIG. 1 telecommunication system;

FIG. 26 is a block diagram of one embodiment in accordance with thepresent invention of computer software employed in the FIG. 1telecommunication system;

FIG. 27 illustrates a flow chart of a first embodiment of an advertiserindexing routine in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 28 illustrates various flow charts of a first embodiment inaccordance with the present invention for displaying advertisementswithin the FIG. 1 telecommunication system;

FIG. 29 illustrates a flow chart of a first embodiment of advertisementselection routine in accordance with the present invention;

FIG. 30 illustrates fictitious advertising regions within the state ofIllinois; and

FIGS. 31-36 illustrate a variety of the business arrangements betweenservers of the ad selection node and the content provider node of theFIG. 1 telecommunication system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF A PRESENTLY PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIG. 1, a telecommunication system 100 of the presentinvention is shown. Telecommunication system 100 comprises a network 110which is the media used to provide communications links between thevarious nodes of telecommunication system 100. Links through network 110may include permanent connections (e.g., wire or fiber optic cables),temporary connections made through telephone or wireless communications,or various nodes of telecommunication system 100 may actually be hostedon the same physical hardware platform removing the necessity of anetwork link altogether. Network 110 may be in the form of public orprivate connections available over the Internet, an extranet, anintranet, a hard-wired local area network (LAN), a hard-wired wide areanetwork (WAN), a wireless LAN a wireless WAN, and/or other forms aswould occur to those having ordinary skill in the art.

A user node 120 of telecommunication system 100 operates to facilitatecommunications of requested information in audio form and/or visual formbetween a user of user node 120 and one of the other nodes oftelecommunication system 100. Conventional devices, apparatuses andsystems, such as for example, a cell phone 121, a personal digitalassistant 122, and a personal computer 123 as illustrated, can beutilized within user node 120 to establish such communications. Othersuitable conventional devices, apparatuses and systems not illustratedinclude networked household appliances (e.g., televisions,refrigerators, etc.), digital or satellite radio systems, and others aswould occur to those having ordinary skill in the art.

A content provider node 130 includes one or more servers 131 forconventionally communicating with the other nodes of telecommunicationsystem 100. In one embodiment, content provider node 130 includes aconventional content server 131 a and an associated database DB1 asillustrated in FIG. 2 for providing requested information to user node130. The requested information can be in a variety of forms, such as,for example, a static or dynamic web page, a radio or video broadcast ornarrowcast, a page or segment of wireless application protocol (WAP)content, a short messaging service (SMS) message, or other forms ofnetwork information as known in the art. Accordingly, content server 131a can include suitable hardware platforms and software modules tooperate as a web site server, a radio broadcast server, etc.

Content provider node 131 can further operate to communicate one or moreadvertisements with or as the requested information to user node 120 asdirected by an ad selection node 140. These advertisements can bemanaged by conventional content server 131 a and associated databaseDB1, a third party ad server 131 b and an associated database DB2 asillustrated in FIG. 2 (e.g., a commercially accessible server by DoubleClick), or a distributed media server 131 c and an associated databaseDB3 as illustrated in FIG. 2 (e.g., a commercially available server byAkamai).

Referring again to FIG. 1, ad selection node 140 includes one or moreservers 141 for conventionally communicating with the other nodes oftelecommunication system 10. In one embodiment, ad selection node 140includes a targeted ad server 141 a and an associated database DB4 asillustrated in FIG. 3 for managing a selection of which advertisement oradvertisements are to be communicated with the requested informationfrom content provider node 131 to user node 120 in accordance with thepresent invention. Accordingly, targeted ad server 141 a includesconventional hardware platforms and software modules for a networkoperation of targeted ad server 141 a as well as additional hardwareplatforms and software modules for implementing various methods of thepresent invention as will subsequently described herein.

Concurrent with or alternative to content provider node 131 (e.g., thirdparty ad server 131 b and distributed media server 131 c shown in FIG.2), ad selection node 140 can further operate to communicate one or moreadvertisements with the requested information to user node 120. Theseadvertisements can be managed by a conventional database server 141 band associated databases DB5 and DB6 as illustrated in FIG. 3. In oneembodiment, database DB5 contains information related to advertisers andtheir ads. Individual ads are associated with the zip codes in whichthey are to be served. Advertisers can purchase the advertising spacefor the individual advertisements based on a region of commercial orpolitical influence. In one embodiment, zip codes, or other specifiedgeographical area, within a selected region can be identified as part ofthe advertising area for that particular advertiser. For example, asexemplary shown in FIG. 5, a business wishing to introduce a new productor service campaign in the state of Illinois may wish to do so within aregion of commercial influence (RCI) of a fictitious newspaper. Thebusiness would then have one or more related digitized advertisementsdesignated to be served into zip codes within the RCI (e.g., 60200,60203, 60204, 60206, 60208, and 60210). Also by example, an ad agencywishing to introduce a series of ads in the state of Illinois within aregion of residential districts (RRD) such as the greater Chicago areawould have one or more related digitized advertisements designated to beserved into zip codes within the RRD. By further example, a politicalcampaign wishing to introduce a series of campaign ads in the state ofIllinois within a corresponding political district (PD) would have oneor more related digitized advertisements designated to be served intozip codes within political district PD.

For every zip code in the United States, the databases maintain recordsidentifying the advertisers that have purchased some number ofimpressions in that zip code, where an impression is defined as thedistribution of an advertising package to user node 120 (FIG. 1) throughtheir interaction with a content provider node 130 (FIG. 1). Eachadvertiser record includes a unique identifier for the advertiser, keysrelating them to sold advertising packages, the date and time of each adimpression, the number of impressions that should be served in eachrecognized timeframe, and the maximum number of impressions that may beserved in each recognized timeframe. A timeframe mentioned may includeany span of time one wishes to distinguish. A timeframe may be a month,week, day, hour, etc. The advertisers are simply mapped into not onlyeach zip code or other geographical area of importance, but also eachtime frame in which they would like to distribute impressions.

In one embodiment, database DB6 contains data gathered by the mostrecent U.S. census. This information is organized in records associatedwith each zip code in the United States. Each record within database DB6includes several columns of information about each zip code. A first setof columns includes information related to the percentage of the totalpopulation within the zip code that has an ethnic designation of White,Black, Asian/Pacific, or Hispanic Origin. A second set of columnsincludes information related to the percentage of the total populationwithin the zip code that falls into the following age categories: 0-4;5-9; 10-14; 15-19; 20-24; 25-44; 45-64; 65-84; 85; and older. Anothercolumn of information is related to the median age of the populationwithin the zip code. An additional column includes information relatedto the male/female ratio within the zip code. A further column includesinformation related to the per capita income within the zip code.Another group of columns includes information related to the percentageof the total population within the zip code that falls into each of thefollowing annual income categories: less than $15,000; $15,000 to$24,000; $25,000 to $49,999; $50,000 to $99,999; $100,000 to $149,999;and $150,000 or more. And a further group of columns includesinformation related to the percentage of the total population within thezip code making use of financial services such as home loans, automobileloans, investments, and retirement plans.

Referring again to FIG. 1, a user identification node 150 includes oneor more servers 151 for conventionally communicating with the othernodes of telecommunication system 10. In one embodiment, useridentification node 150 includes a conventional geographic locationserver 151 a and associated database DB7 for providing informationindicative of a geographic location of the user to ad selection node 140(e.g., a commercially available server by Quova, a global positioningsystem (GPS) enabled user node, or using cellular triangulation). Inanother embodiment, user identification node further includes aconventional demographic profile server 151 b and associated databaseDB8 for providing additional information indicative of a demographicprofile of the geographic location to ad selection node 140 (e.g., acommercially available server containing the most recent U.S. Census orthe like).

An advertiser node 160 of telecommunication system 100 operates tofacilitate communications of advertisements in audio form and/or visualform between an advertiser and the ad selection node 140. Conventionaldevices, apparatuses and systems, such as for example, a cell phone 161,a personal digital assistant 162, and a personal computer 163 asillustrated, can be utilized within advertiser node 160 to establishsuch communications. Other suitable conventional devices, apparatusesand systems not illustrated include networked household appliances(e.g., televisions, refrigerators, etc.), digital or satellite radiosystems, and others as would occur to those having ordinary skill in theart.

The advertiser may be the end advertiser of a product or service, amarketer, a publicist, a politician, any other similar party, or anyparty acting as an agent of the advertiser such as a media company,public relations company, advertising agency, or traditionalpublication.

While the nodes of FIG. 1 are illustrated and described as solelycommunicating using network 110, this is only to be considered a bestmode, and not limiting. Various nodes, where possible, may communicateusing other forms of communication including phone, fax, in-personmeetings, mail, and other forms known in the art. Further, while thenodes, and further their components make-up (e.g. servers, databases),are described as operating independently and on separate platforms, itshould be well understood by one skilled in the art that variousfunctions of the node or functions of the multiple nodes may beperformed on the same physical hardware, or spread in differentconfigurations, arrangements and architectures among the various nodes.

Extranet Interfaces for Advertisers

Ad selection node 140 (FIG. 1), in particular targeted ad server 141 a(FIG. 3) may include various interfaces for facilitating a communicationof an advertisement to ad selection node 140 by an advertiser (FIG. 1)or its agent. The advertiser may be a traditional publication, such asThe Glenview Announcements, which is a local newspaper for Glenview,Ill. The Glenview Announcements may be found to have a particular areaof commercial influence. The region of commercial influence may be anycombination of zip codes, cities, counties, states, or othergeographical region. In one embodiment, the distribution area of thetraditional media version of a publication may define the area ofcommercial influence for that publication. Commercial influence may besome region other than the distribution area of traditional mediaversion of a publication as determined by market conditions, geographicpreferences, or other business and economic factors. The GlenviewAnnouncements may have, for example, an area of commercial influence ofzip code 60025. Using various interfaces with ad selection node 140,personnel at the Glenview Announcements may create a digitized versionof an advertisement that may appear in the traditional media version ofits publication. The Glenview Announcements may also define that thisadvertisement should only be shown within its area of influence. In oneembodiment, the advertiser may also define what sites or category ofsites an advertisement may appear on. For example, the advertisement mayonly appear on news sites and the user (FIG. 1) may then access contentprovider node 130 (e.g., content server 131 a) via user node 120. Oneexample might be viewing the cnn.com website using a web browser onpersonal computer 123 (FIG. 1). If user identification node 150 (FIG. 1)determines that user is accessing the system from within zip code 60025,the digitized advertisement created by the Glenview Announcements may beserved. This system may allow traditional publications to sell andbroadcast network advertisements that may be displayed only within itsregion of influence.

The following FIGS. 6-11 illustrate various interfaces for creating anetwork-based advertisement. The illustrated interfaces may be omitted,rearranged, or added in a system of the present invention withoutstraying from the intent of defining the properties necessary or usefulfor distributing an advertisement online. Advertisements may be directlyentered into a database or software program, may be entered via webinterface, or any other means known in the art.

FIG. 6 illustrates one embodiment of a web browser-based interface 200for beginning the process of defining an advertisement. Below mainheader 201 is subheader and navigation system 202. Main header 201 andsubheader and navigation system 202 may be shared throughout theadvertisement definition process. Subheader and navigation system 202may include of text or image based hypertext links to each step of theadvertisement definition process. The link's color, shading, shape, orsome other feature may indicate the active page of the process. Duringthe advertisement definition process, a user of the system may wish tochange a selection or setting from a previous page, or skip ahead in theprocess. Subheader and navigation system 202 may allow the user to moveto any portion of the process the user may edit. In one embodiment, someportions of the process may not be edited before others. A similarscheme to that indicating which page is active may be employed toindicate the steps of the process to which the user may navigate.

Below navigation system 202, an HTML form may present the user withoptions for defining an advertisement. Form input 203 may allow the userto select an advertiser for the advertisement being created. If anadvertiser has not been defined in the system, and is not held in adatabase of advertisers in ad selection node 140, the user may beprovided with a link 204, or some other means, to navigate to a form forthe creation of a new advertiser. After the advertiser for theadvertisement being created has been selected in form input 203, theuser may define a file for use as, or in creation of, the advertisementin form input 205. A file may be specified directly in text, or astandard file-browsing dialog box may be employed. Files used mayinclude images of the graphics interchange (GIF), joint photographexperts group (JPEG), or any other image file format known in the art.Files used may also include an HTML page, a portion of an HTML page suchas a form, Flash executable, some form of streaming media, or any otherfile format that may be served over a network. After a file has beenspecified in form input 205, the user may define what type ofadvertisement they are creating by selecting from form input 206.Advertisement types may include banner, tower, pop-up, pop-under, SMSmessage, or any other type of advertisement known in the art. After theadvertisement type is selected, the user may proceed to the next step ofthe advertisement definition process. Some form of client-sidescripting, such as javascript, and/or server-side scripting may beemployed to ensure that all required form inputs 204-206 contain somelegitimate value. Similar client and/or server-side scripting may beemployed throughout the advertisement definition process, and throughoutany portion of the user interface employed in interaction with adselection node 140.

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a web-based interface 210 fordefining the destination of the advertisement. An advertisement maycontain a hyperlink, may in some way redirect a user, or in some wayprovide a means for the user to be directed, to another networkresource. This other network resource is the advertisement'sdestination. In one embodiment, the user may select that theadvertisement has no destination. Other destinations may include a webpage on the advertisers site, a web page on ad selection node 140, a webpage on some other site, an email link, or any other network resourceknown in the art. One embodiment allows a coupon to be defined, which isa configurable page on ad selection node 140 the details of which willbe discussed hereafter. On web-interface, the user may select the typeof network resource for the destination with form element 211. If theuser selects a URL destination, the user may specify that destination inform element 212. If the user selects a coupon destination, the user mayspecify an image, or any other file type known in the art, for use increating the coupon using form element 213. After the destination hasbeen specified, the user may proceed to the next step of theadvertisement definition process.

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a web-interface 220 for definingthe quantity and/or duration that an ad should be displayed on adselection node 140. A standard method for defining the quantity and/orduration of a network advertisement is to specify a number ofimpressions, or the number of times the advertisement will be delivered.The user may specify the number of impressions in form input 221. In oneembodiment of the present invention the user may select a start date,which is the date on which the advertisement will begin its broadcast onad selection node 140. The start date may be entered using dateselection form elements 222. In one embodiment the user may specify astart time, which is the time of day an advertisement will begin itsbroadcast on ad selection node 140. The start time may be entered usingtime selection form elements 223. In one embodiment of the presentinvention the user may select an end date, which is the date on whichthe advertisement will end its broadcast on ad selection node 140. Theend date may be entered using date selection form elements 224. In oneembodiment the user may specify an end time, which is the time of day anadvertisement will end its broadcast on ad selection node 140. The starttime may be entered using time selection form elements 225. In oneembodiment, a time zone may be specified with the start time and endtime so that those times reflect the selected time zone. In oneembodiment the user may select that the start time and end time berelative to the time zone the ad may be served in. In this embodiment,if the advertisement may be served in multiple time zones, the ad mayactually have multiple start and end times. This would, in effect,cascade the start and end times in accordance with the selected timezones. In one embodiment, the user may specify only the number ofimpressions. In one embodiment the user may specify only a start and endtime during which an ad will be broadcast. In one embodiment the usermay select both the number of impressions and the start and end times.In this embodiment, should the advertisement be served up to the numberof impressions prior to the end time, it may automatically stop beingserved.

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of a web-interface 230 for definingthe web sites or other network channels over which the advertisement maybe displayed. In one embodiment the user may select any combination ofsites and network channels available to ad selection node 140. In oneembodiment only the sites and network channels that support the type ofadvertisement specified on web-interface 200 (FIG. 6) will be displayed.In one embodiment, web sites or network channels may be organized intocategories based upon subject matter, user demographic, or some othermethod of categorization. The user may specify that all sites or networkchannels in a category may display the advertisement by selectingcategory form element 231. For example, the user may specify that theiradvertisement be displayed on all sports sites, or all sites relating towomen, or all news sites. In one embodiment, selecting category formelement 231 may cause individual web site and network channel formelements 232 to be selected. In one embodiment the user may deselectthose websites and network channels of form elements 232 on which shedoes not wish to display the advertisement. When specifying the websites, network channels, and categories over which an advertisementshould display, it may be useful to have some means of estimating theanticipated traffic over those web sites, channels, and categories. Inone embodiment, web-based interface 230 may contain or link to aweb-based sub-interface 237 for estimating impression traffic levels onweb sites, network channels, or categories. In one embodiment,sub-interface 237 may display a traffic level based upon the sites,channels, or categories selected on web-based interface 230. In oneembodiment the user may specify the sites, channels or categories forthe traffic report based on those selected in form elements 233. In oneembodiment, the traffic report may be more narrowly defined to aspecific geographic area. In one embodiment the geographic area may bethat defined for the advertisement's distribution, the details of whichwill be discussed hereafter. In one embodiment the geographic area maybe defined using form elements 234. In one embodiment the user mayselect the time period for which the traffic report should display usingform elements 235. In one embodiment the traffic report may include oneor all of the following statistics as shown, for example, in formelements 236: total number of impressions, percent of the total site,channel, or category impressions over the defined time period that aredisplayed in the defined geographic area, and percent of totalimpressions served on ad selection node 140 that fit the criteriadefined in sub-interface 237.

FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of a web-interface 240 for definingthe geographic area over which the advertisement may be displayed. Inone embodiment the user may select the country in which they wish toserve the advertisement using form element 241. Depending upon thecountry selected in form element 242, web-interface 240 may display inform element 242 the appropriate states, provinces, or other geographicregions contained within the country selected in form element 242. Againdepending on the region selected in form element 242, web-interface 240may display the next appropriate level of geographic regions within thearea specified in form element 242. These may be displayed in formelement 243. In one embodiment, the regions displayed in element 243 maybe counties. This process may continue in a like manner to form element244 which may display the appropriate cities, and to form element 245that may display the appropriate postal or zip codes. In one embodiment,multiple elements may be selected at each of the form element levels241-245. In one embodiment only multiple zip or postal codes may beselected. In one embodiment the user may stop at any point and thesystem will use the greatest level of geographic specificity indicated.In one embodiment the user may specify an area and then choose to addanother different area to the area already specified. In one embodimentthe user may save a defined area for use in later advertisementdefinitions. These defined areas may be made available on web-basedinterface 240. In one embodiment web-interface 240 will only display thegeographic areas the user may serve the advertisement into. Theseallowed areas may be based upon the primary or secondary status of theuser's organization, or any other rules established on ad selection node140.

FIG. 11 illustrates an alternative embodiment of a web-interface 240′for defining the geographic area over which the advertisement may bedisplayed. This embodiment is designed to the specific needs of an agentof the advertiser in the form of an advertising agency. Advertisingagencies may specify the geographic area over which the ad may bedisplayed using an interface that breaks a region into Designated MarketAreas (DMAs). DMA, a convention of the Nielson Media Research, isdefined by television viewing patterns, and is a commonly usedgeographic definition by advertising agencies. It is common practice inadvertising to run a copy test of a particular advertising campaign in adesignated geographic area, providing a mix of direct mail, television,radio, and other advertising mediums to gauge consumer response prior toa national or global rollout of the campaign. Often the designatedgeographic areas for the copy test are defined by DMA. Without thecapability to geographically target networked advertising, advertisingagencies have been unable to include this medium effectively in theircopy testing. By providing a geographically targeted ad server alongwith an interface breaking geography down into DMAs, advertisingagencies not only are able to include networked advertising in theircopy testing, but may do so in a manner that more closely and easilymaps to their current practices. Accordingly, interface 240′ may beprovided, supplying a graphical method, which may be in the form of aclickable map 246, of specifying the DMAs over which theiradvertisements should be displayed. Alternatively, a clickable area mayinclude campuses, airports, or within a certain proximity of business orother types of locations.

FIG. 12 illustrates one embodiment of a web-interface 250 for definingthe end user demographics over which the advertisement may be displayed.The United States Census Bureau (USCB), among other similarinternational bodies, and certain commercial enterprises collect anddistribute demographic information. In one embodiment, ad selection node140 may hold demographic information, such as the USCB census data, andmay make it available to the user. This data may be used during thedefinition of an advertisement to specify the demographics over whichthe advertisement may be displayed. In one embodiment the user mayspecify the demographics they wish to target for the advertisement underinputs 251, and ad selection node 140 may use the USCB census data toselect for the user the geographic areas in which the selecteddemographics are prevalent. In one embodiment these selecteddemographics may narrow the geographic area defined on web-basedinterface 240. In one embodiment the user may choose not to indicate ageographic area specifically, but may only select the demographics theywish to target. Web-interface 250 may contain or link to a web-basedsub-interface 252 that may display the demographics associated withselected web sites, channels, or categories such as those in web-basedinterface 230.

Many of the advertisers using telecommunication system 250 may not havean active network presence. Advertisers may wish to specify some networklocation as the destination for their advertisement even in the casethat they do not have an active network presence. In one embodiment ofthe present invention the user defining the advertisement may wish tospecify a coupon as the destination of the advertisement as shown inform elements 605,615 on web-based interface 210 of FIG. 7.

One embodiment of a coupon 260, is illustrated in FIG. 13. In oneembodiment, a coupon may contain any combination of elements including;the advertiser's company name 261; an image or multimedia file 262; aspecific offer from the advertiser 263; restrictions 264 such as “notvalid with other coupons,” or “one coupon per customer”; a coupon code265 or a bar code 266 that may be used by the advertiser for generalcampaign tracking or the for tracking the specific use of that coupon; avalid or expiration date 267; a link or print image 268 that may causethe coupon to be printed. In one embodiment, ad selection node 140 maytrack and record data relating to what advertisements are served, whatadvertisements are clicked on, and in the case of coupons, whatadvertisements are printed out. In one embodiment, the tracking data mayinclude a timestamp representing when the advertisement was served,clicked on, printed, etc. The timestamp may be used to determine themost effective times to display advertisements, where effectiveness ismeasured by response level.

Several types of end-user may access ad selection node 140.Administrators or employees of consumer web sites, or any other sourceof content being served to the end user node of telecommunication system100, may wish to create, update or view information relating to theirparticipation in the system. Administrators or employees of mediacompanies, publications, or advertisers may wish to create, update orview information relating to their participation in the system.Administrators or employees of ad selection node 140 may wish to create,update or view information relating to their participation in thesystem. End users may wish to create, update or view informationrelating to their participation in the system. Many means may beprovided allowing full or restricted access to information on adselection node 140 including software application, direct access to thecommand line or operating system interface, web-based interface, or anyother means of interaction or interfacing known in the art. FIGS. 6-12illustrated web-based interfaces, all of which may be collectivelygathered into a secure web-based client extranet. In one embodiment,this may be a collection of HTML pages, accessible only when anappropriate user name and password combination is supplied. FIG. 14illustrates a web-interface 270 that may act as a log in page to theweb-based client extranet. Web-interface 270 may include form elements271 where the user may submit a user name and password. A user name andpassword recollection link 272 may be provided to help the user rememberher user name and password. In one embodiment, ad selection node 140 mayemail the user name and password to the user. Web-interface 270 may alsoallow the user to specify that the system automatically log them in onfollowing occasions by selecting form element 273.

As noted previously, various individuals, companies or other entitiesmay be allowed access to the ad server to define ads for networkpublication. In addition to the interfaces described for the newspapersand other traditional media companies, an interface may be providedspecifically for promotional or image and branding advertising agencies,individual branches of companies such as franchise owners or dealershipowners, and any of these interfaces may be provided or accessed throughan in-house website, or by portal sites such as Yahoo.com and AOL.Access may be granted and interfaces to the ad server may be provided toall of the above, any combination of the above, or none of the above.Advantages may be gained by specializing the interfaces to any or all ofthese entities.

One such specialized interface may include a design for use in thepolitical or government arena. A page that may be implemented in adifferent manner, for use in the political or government arena, isweb-interface 240 for defining the geographic area over which theadvertisement may be displayed. For example, a congressional candidatemay be presented with a web-interface that allows her to select thegeographic area for an ad based on congressional district. In oneembodiment, the geographic selection and other selections may be moregraphically based, so as to ease the user definition process. Thegeographic selection may be done by selecting regions on a map. The mapmay be broken down into the appropriate regions based upon theuser—state, congressional district, MSA, etc. As another example of aspecialized interface, web-interface 250 for defining end userdemographics may especially focus on key political demographicinformation such as political party affiliation.

Other special needs may be associated with ads for political candidates,or other advertisers. For example, the calls to action for user might beto donate money, volunteer, or find out more information regarding theadvertisers view or opinion on an issue. Interfaces and processes may bein place as part of ad selection node 140 that allow an advertiser toset up predefined or custom pages that achieve such ends as contactinformation collection for volunteers, credit card processing fordonations, or audio or video feeds. Continuing with the politicalcandidate example, templates for a web page, portion of a web page, orwhole site may be supplied to the advertiser along with the ability toinput, edit, and delete information regarding themselves, their parties,or their candidacy.

The interface and process of selecting site, geographic and demographictargeting information may be done separately, or in some degree ofconjunction. In one embodiment, the user may simply provide ademographic selection through demographic interface. Using census dataand/or demographics associated with websites, the geographic area inwhich to serve ads may be determined. For example, a user might not bepresented with the opportunity to specifically select the content sitesthey wish to have their ad appear on, but ad selection node 140 mayselect these sites based on the demographics of the desired audience, orbased on the geographic selection and what sites most consistently haveheavy traffic from that geographic area. In another embodiment,geographic information might not be specifically defined, but adselection node 140 may select the geography based on the selecteddemographics and demographic data associated with various geographicregions. The more information ad selection node 140 holds, gathers,receives, or gleans regarding the relationships between sites,geography, and demographics, the more powerful the interface may become.Demographic information regarding a site's visitors may be determined,through survey, poll, subscription information or other means.Demographic information regarding a geographic location may bedetermined through use and analysis of census information, poll data, orother sources. As ad selection node 140 collects impression logs it mayalso develop further information stores relating to the relationshipbetween individual site traffic and the geographic origination of the adrequests. This geographic information relating to site traffic may beanalyzed in conjunction with the previously mentioned censusinformation, etc. Each of these relationships may be used to expand,refine, or define the audience for a particular advertisement.

For example, a political candidate may be more familiar with thedemographics of the audience she wishes to reach, and the geographicarea of her constituency, rather than the sites on which she wishes tohave her message displayed. For the purpose of this example we will saythe message relates to “a woman's right to choose” and is geared towarda female audience. In this embodiment, the candidate may specify thegeographic area of her constituency, and specify that the ad should betargeted towards women. Ad selection node 140 may then specify that thisad should be served on sites such as iParenting.com, as iParenting.comhas collected demographic information relating to their audience thatsuggests that 98% of their audience is female. A more complicateddecision regarding the audience for this message might be including inthe audience a geographic location outside of the area of constituencybased on information such as the fact that an all-women's college existsin that geographic location, and based on the assumption that it isclose enough to the specified geographic location that it may beconsidered likely that some of the women there actually live in the areaof the constituency or may have some influence over someone who doeslive in the constituency. When making recommendations or decisions suchas these wherein the advertiser has not specified some aspect of the adserving parameters, the recommendations or decisions may either takeplace without the advertiser's knowledge or control, or may be presentedas suggestions, or available for editing to the advertiser.

By way of another example, consider a branch of the Hispanic DentalAssociation (HDA) wishing to advertise the availability of Hispanicdentists in their region. An interface may be provided on which thebranch of HDA specifies only their geographic region and that they wishto target Hispanics. Ad selection node 140 may narrow the geographicregion covered based upon a set or advertiser defined populationconcentration of Hispanics. In other words, the ad might only be servedinto zip codes with a population consisting of at least 10% Hispanics.The sites on which the ad will be broadcast may be selected in a mannersimilar to that described above, specified by the advertiser, or in anyother manner as would occur to one of ordinary skill in the art.

Interfaces may also be defined that allow the advertiser or agent of theadvertiser to specify predefined areas of particular note. For example,they may be allowed to select geographic regions surrounding points ofnote such as college campuses or airline hubs. Using such information apolitical candidate, for example, might specify that they wish to have arequest for volunteers message sent out around the college campuses intheir area. Other areas may be defined for specific advertisers such asfor the areas surrounding each of their stores, outlets, or franchiselocations. For example, an interface might be created for Subway givingthem the option to advertise surrounding individual restaurant locationsor groups of locations.

Various arrangements may also be implemented between the company holdingad selection node 140 and potential advertisers. Examples of potentialadvertisers may include: publications, media companies, web sites,advertising agencies, government bodies, corporations, franchisees ofcompanies, divisions of companies, individual locations of a largercompany, single location companies, organizations, charities, clubs,local retailers or service providers, or even individuals not in anydirect affiliation with a commercial or political venture. In oneembodiment the company holding ad selection node 140 may maintain allinterfaces for these potential advertisers. In another embodiment someor all of the interface may be held and or maintained by other internetsites, such as portals like yahoo.com, or they may be managed byadvertising agencies, or managed by franchised companies for theirfranchisees, or by companies for their use or use by their subsidiaries,individual divisions, branches or locations. Accounts on any of theseinterfaces may be automatically created at the request of the potentialadvertiser, or may be configured by an administrator of ad selectionnode 140 or an administrator of any service supporting interfaces withad selection node 140, by advertising agencies for their clients,

The process and interfaces described above for defining advertisementsmay allow for the party defining the ad to identify very specific termsunder which the ad may be served, and also may specify with a level ofacuity other aspects of the desired audience. In one embodiment a localowner of a franchise, for example McDonald's®, may have access to a sitefor creating ads held directly on ad selection node 140 and configuredby its administration, or in another embodiment the site may beavailable via a site run by an advertising agency or a section of adselection node 140 configured by an advertising agency. The advertisingagency may have no affiliation with said franchise, may be theiradvertiser of record, or may be employed specifically for their capacityto set up such interfaces to ad selection node 140 for franchisees. Thelocal owner of a McDonald's may wish to advertise a new sandwich we willterm the McCrispy. Using an interface to ad selection node 140 the localfranchise owner may select to only advertise in the immediate geographicarea. This may be based upon zip codes, city names, may be a predefinedarea for that particular local franchise location, or any other means ofspecifying that area. In order to reach consumers when they are mostinterested in the McCrispy, it may be specified that the ad run, forexample, only between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm, to attract a lunch crowd.The time of advertisement may be based on a situation such as this whereit caters to consumer needs, directly opposed to consumer needs in orderto speed up slow times, by the local franchise owner based upon internalfactors such as availability of employees to handle any additionalcustomer traffic, or any other reason. In one embodiment the localfranchise owner may also create a coupon destination for the McCrispy adthat may be printed out and brought to that franchise only, or it may bea coupon usable at all participating McDonald's locations. To furtherencourage a time specific response the coupon might have a timelimitation on it. For example, good between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm on thefollowing dates, February 4-February 11.

In another embodiment a company such as a commercial airline may haveaccess to an interface for ad selection node 140. Some means foradvertising “last-minute” availability of seats may be found in the art,such as on the airline's web site, or via promotional emails. These bothrequire consumers to have interacted with the airline previously. Onemeans for overcoming this disadvantage would be for the airline to beable to advertise last-minute availability of seats using standardinternet advertisements on a variety of sites. Previously this wouldhave been a shotgun approach, the message reaching only a very few ofthe consumers who might take advantage of such availability. Using aninterface to ad selection node 140 the airline may specify that anadvertisement only be broadcast in the origination and destinationcities for the available flight. In addition to this, the airline maywish to specify websites or categories of websites on which theiradvertisement may be broadcast. This selection may be based onhistorical demographics of the site's or category of site's users, orwhatever other basis chosen by the company creating the ad. As noted,commercial airlines may have last-minute fares they wish to advertise,or business class specials, or frequent flier miles specials. Continuingthe example, the airline might wish to advertise the last-minute faresor business class specials not only to the origination and destinationcities, but may also wish to advertise only to a business crowddemographic. Using an interface on ad selection node 140 the airline mayview historical demographics of various sites and categories and may forexample select to advertise on news sites and stock information sitesbased upon the information available on said interface indicating thatthese sites are primarily viewed by working people ages 25-40. Inanother embodiment the airline may wish to create a coupon destinationfor their advertisement. This coupon may be, for example, a voucher fora free beverage, a class upgrade, may have a specially generated coderequired to redeem the offer on the airline's site, or whatever theairline chooses to create.

In another embodiment, companies with disperse locations may wish toadvertise on the Internet. This may be companies such as health clubs(e.g. Bally Fitness), or vehicle manufacturers (e.g. Ford, GM). Acompany such as Ford holds sales both at the manufacturer level and atthe dealership level. Using an interface to ad selection node 140 Fordmay specify the distribution areas covered by each of their dealershipsas well as then aggregate the area over which all their dealerships areeasily accessible. These area definitions may be preloaded by anadministrator of ad selection node 140, may be loaded by an advertisingagency working on behalf of Ford, or any other entity. Using thesedefined areas Ford may then advertise sales at specific dealerships, orallow their dealerships to access ad selection node 140 and advertisethe sales themselves. Advertisements with a dynamic portion may becreated on which an area indicating the closest dealership is generatedspecifically based upon the determined location of the person viewingthe advertisement. A coupon destination may also be employed for suchpurposes.

Any variety of interfaces may be designed, making most easily availableto the particular business user the features of ad selection node 140most valuable to them. These features may include or exclude any of thead definition pages described previously. When used in concert thevarious capabilities may allow for extremely targeted advertising in theonline arena. For example a day care center in Evanston, Ill. may wishto advertise their services. Using an interface for local advertisersthis company might select to advertise only in zip code 60201, and thenmight also select to only advertise on iParenting.com, a site that hashistorically been trafficked 98% of the time by women. Selecting onlythese two factors the day care center has essentially narrowed theadvertisements audience to women in Evanston.

FIG. 15 illustrates one embodiment of a site and category selectioninterface 280 for helping advertisers determine which site or categoryof sites they may wish to advertise on. The available sites may bebroken down into categories such as family 281, in which an individualsite 282 or sites may be listed such as iParenting.com. If one clicks onone of the available sites 282, the historical demographics 283 for thatsite may be displayed, such as the gender distribution, median age,education level, occupation, or others. Again, these demographics may beused in conjunction with time specificity and geographic location tofinely identify and target a desired audience.

In one embodiment, access to an advertisement definition section, asillustrated in FIGS. 6-11, may only be given to advertisers,publications or media companies registered with ad selection node 140.In one embodiment, advertisers may be given access to the advertisementdefinition section. In one embodiment, if an advertiser is given accessto the advertisement definition section, an administrator of adselection node 140 may approve or reject an advertisement before it isactivated on ad selection node 140. It may be useful, in the event thatadvertisers are given access to the advertisement definition section, toprovide a simplified or more graphical interface for this section. Inone embodiment the interface may include a map displaying the regions inwhich an advertisement may be served. A user may be allowed to selectdifferent ways in which the map may be broken down. In one embodiment,the user may select to view the map from different focus levels, zoomingin to state or city levels or zooming out to a global view. In oneembodiment, the user may select to have the map broken down into regionsrepresenting demographics that may allow them to, for example, selectthe regions in which there is a concentration of senior citizens, or theregions in which there is a strong Hispanic population. Other aspects ofadvertisement definition, such as the selection of time zone, may besimplified using graphical representations. In one embodiment theseinterfaces may be made available to the advertisers, publication andmedia companies as well.

Extranet Interfaces for Administrators

FIGS. 16-23 illustrate an administrative extranet may be provided forthe administrator of ad selection node 140.

FIG. 16 illustrates one embodiment of an administrative extranet homepage 300. In one embodiment the administrator may view the following:system activity 301 such as total ads served, ads served by category,geolocations processed, or similar such information; billing information302 such as the total retail value (TRV) of all ads served, the TRV ofads served by category, or similar such information; advertisementrecords 303 that may include information such as open date and time,close date and time, entry date and time, advertisement type,impressions purchased, advertiser company name, advertisement status, orany similar such information. In one embodiment the advertisementrecords 303 may contain an advertisement details link 305 to viewfurther information about the advertisement, including ad impressiondetails. In one embodiment the extranet home page 300 may only displaysystem activity that relates to the current month or to a month selectedin form element 304.

FIG. 17 illustrates one embodiment of an advertisement details page 310as may be reached through the advertisement details link 305. In oneembodiment advertisement activity information 311 similar to that ofsystem activity 301 may be displayed, but relating only to the selectedadvertisement. In one embodiment advertisement billing information 312similar to that of billing information 302 may be displayed, butrelating only to the selected advertisement. In one embodiment adimpression records 313 may be listed including information relating toindividual impressions served such as: advertiser name, the site onwhich the advertisement was served, the date and time the advertisementwas served, the IP address to which the ad was served, locationinformation such as zip code relating to where the ad was served, and alink to further details (if available) relating to the processedgeolocation information. In one embodiment a page similar toadvertisement details page 310 may be available with geolocationinformation including any or all details returned from a request togeolocation server 135.

FIG. 18 illustrates one embodiment of a publication details page 320.Publication details page 320 may provide the administrator withinformation relating to the advertisers, publications or media companieshaving access to ad selection node 140. This information may includecontract information such as the determined revenue split, cost perthousand impressions (CPM), and beginning and end dates. Publicationdetails page 320 may contain or link to a page for viewing furtherinformation, editing information, or inserting new information relatingto publications.

FIG. 19 illustrates one embodiment of an account details page 330.Account details page 330 may provide the administrator with informationrelating to the advertiser users, publication users, media companyusers, website administrative users, or any other users who have loginname and password access to view, update or edit information on adselection node 140. The information displayed may include the affiliatedcompany name, the user's name, user contact information, login name,password, and other information relating to the account. Account detailspage 330 may contain or link to a page for viewing further information,editing information, or inserting new information relating to useraccounts.

FIG. 20 illustrates one embodiment of an advertiser details page 340.Advertiser details page 340 may provide the administrator withinformation relating to the advertisers registered on ad selection node140. Information displayed may include advertiser company name, contactinformation, advertising history, or other such advertiser details.Advertiser details page 340 may contain or link to a page for viewingfurther information, editing information, or inserting new informationrelating to registered advertisers.

FIG. 21 illustrates one embodiment of a web site details page 350. Website details page 350 may provide the administrator with informationrelating to the web sites registered on ad selection node 140.Information displayed may include company name, web site URL, monthlyimpressions contracted, contracted CPM prices for different ad types,and other company, impression record, or contract details. Web sitedetails page 350 may contain or link to a page for viewing furtherinformation, editing information, or inserting information relating toregistered web sites.

FIG. 22 illustrates on embodiment of an administrative utility page 360.Ad selection node 140 may contain many settings relating to itsfunction, such as rules for its interaction with geolocation server 140.Geolocation server 140 may return confidence levels associated with thegeolocations it provides, these confidence levels indicating the levelof confidence geolocation server 140 has that it is providing accurategeolocation information. Different levels of confidence may be deemedacceptable, and a means of setting and editing past settings of requiredthreshold levels of confidence may be required. Administrative utilitypage 360 may contain form elements 361 that may allow an administratorto set and edit the threshold levels of confidence. Link 362 may providea page for viewing all current setting for threshold levels. Similaradministrative utility pages may be employed for any of the varioussettings involved in the operation of ad selection node 140.

Much of the information contained in FIGS. 14-22 may be useful not onlyto the administrator of ad selection node 140, but also to other users.Similar pages and interfaces may be used in the design of extranets forpublications, media companies, advertisers, or any other user of thesystem.

FIG. 23 illustrates one embodiment of a web site administrator page 370.Web site administrator page may be designed specifically for use in anextranet provided for the consumer web sites in content provider node130 of telecommunication system 100. Web site administrator page 370 mayinclude system activity 371, such as total ads served or ads servedbroken down by ad type, or billing information 372, such as the TRV ofads served or TRV broken down by ad type. Web site administrator page370 may also include instructions and/or insertable code 373 todemonstrate to the web site administrator how to utilize ad selectionnode 140 on their consumer web site.

Base Advertisement Delivery Method

FIG. 24 illustrates a flowchart 400 representative of a baseadvertisement delivery method of the telecommunication system 100 inaccordance with the present invention. During a stage S462 of theflowchart 400, the user (FIG. 1) utilizes one of the devices,apparatuses or systems of user node 120 (FIG. 1) to conventionallycommunicate an information request to content provider node 130 (FIG. 1)and/or to ad selection node 140 (FIG. 1). As previously stated, theinformation request can be in a variety of forms.

Upon completion of stage S402, telecommunication system 100 proceeds toa stage S402 of the flowchart 400 where ad selection node 140 manages adetermination of a geographic location of the user and/or a demographicprofile of the geographic location. Data serving as a basis for such adetermination can be stored within ad selection node 140 (e.g.,databases DB5 and DB6) and/or in user identification node 150 (e.g.,databases DB7 and DB8). In one embodiment, targeted ad server 141 a(FIG. 3) conventionally communicates with database server 141 b (FIG.3), geographic location server 151 a (FIG. 4) and/or demographic profileserver 151 b (FIG. 4) to obtain the required data.

Upon completion of stage S404, telecommunication system 100 proceeds toa stage S406 of the flowchart 400 where ad selection node 140 manages aselection of one or more advertisements targeted to the user based onthe determination of the geographic location of the user and/or thedemographic profile of the geographic location. Ad selection node 140may use any number of algorithms to select what advertisement is to becommunicated to user node 120.

Upon completion of stage S406, telecommunication system 100 proceeds toa stage S408 of the flowchart 400 where ad selection node 140 manages aretrieval and a communication of the targeted advertisement to the uservia user node 120. The advertisement retrieval can be performed bycontent provider node 130 and/or the ad selection node 140. Ad selectionnode 140 may employ any means communicating the ad to user node 120. Oneembodiment includes communicating the ad information to a java serverpage (JSP), an active server page (ASP), or any other such dynamicallygenerated web page, resource, or service known in the art.

Telecommunication system 100 terminates flowchart 400 upon a completionof the stage S408. While the description of stages S402-S408 herein isbased on a sequential execution of stages S402-S408, an execution ofstages S402-S408 can be performed in an order including concurrentexecution of two or more stages.

Embodiments of Flowchart 400

FIG. 25 illustrates a flowchart 410 representative of a method inaccordance with the present invention for serving an ad when the contentis requested from content provider node 130 (FIG. 1). One example ofsuch a process would include accessing a web page over the Internet.User accesses a website on the Internet by making a network request tocontent provider node 130 during a stage S412 of the flowchart 410. Thismay be achieved using a personal computer 123 (FIG. 1) and entering auniversal resource locator (URL) in a standard browser such asMicrosoft's Internet Explorer, or Netscape Navigator. In the contentreceived from content provider node 130 is code that represents arequest for a banner ad during a stage S414 of the flowchart 410, suchas:

<iframe height=60 src=“http://ads.dizpersion.com/adservice.aspx?sid=9&at=9” width=468 frameborder=0 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0vspace=0 scrolling=“no” bordercolor=“#000000”><imgsrc=“/images/default.gif”></iframe>This code requests an ad from an ad selection node 140 found at thenetwork address represented by http://ads.dizpersion.com. The pageadservice.aspx receives the request during a stage S416 of the flowchart410. A determination of demographic information related to user is thenmade during a stage S418 of the flowchart 410. More will be discussedrelating to the determination of demographic information later. Based onthe demographic determination, ad selection node 140 checks for an adbased on the demographic information during a stage S420 of theflowchart 410. During a stage S422 of the flowchart 400, a search of thetargeted add within an inventory of ad selection node 140 isaccomplished. If an appropriate targeted ad exists in the inventory forad selection node 140, the ad may be served during a stage S424 of theflowchart 410. If an appropriate targeted ad does not exist in theinventory, ad selection node 140 may forward the request for an ad to adefault service from content provider node 130 during a stage S426 ofthe flowchart 410. Ad selection node 140 may allow the request to passto a default service by outputting code such as:

<iframe height=60 src=″http://ads.tpas.net/adservice.html″ width=468frameborder=0 marginwidth=0 marginheight=0 hspace=0 vspace=0scrolling=″no″ bordercolor=″#000000″><imgsrc=”/images/default.gif”></iframe>

Again, an iframe may be used to provide content from a different server,service, or different page on the same server. In this example code, thedefault ad service is a TPAS accessed via network addresshttp://ads.tpas.net/adservice.html. Alternatively, ad selection node 140may directly connect to the default ad source and display the content,as opposed to sending code instructing the client, or node in use byuser, to connect to the source. As was discussed previously the controlover which default service is selected to serve the ad, or from wherethe default ad will be served, will vary based upon the embodiment ofsystem 100 that is employed. In one embodiment, if an ad does not existin the ad selection node 140 inventory, no ad will be served intocontent provider node 130. If a default service is specified, thisdefault ad service may serve an ad during a stage S428 of the flowchart410.

While this embodiment was described as a request for a web page, it willbe apparent to one skilled in the art that similar processes may be usedin the delivery of an ad sent over WAP or any other network protocolsbased on content requests.

An example of one possible implementation of the ad serving mechanism ofad selection node 140 and its relationship with a content provider node130 is in the form of a consumer web site on content server 131 a (FIG.1), which can be a standard web site made up of HTML pages accessible onthe Internet by web browsers such as those commercially available byNetscape, Microsoft, and Opera. An example of the HTML surrounding andincluding an ad, the request for which may appear as follows:

<table width=“490” align=“center” border=“0”> <tr> <td> <center> <scriptsrc=“http://diz.com/adservice?S=1&A=1”> </script> </center><br> </td></tr> </table>The ad request to ad selection node 140 begins and ends in the standardHTML “script tag.” All other HTML may be presentational material ofconsumer web site.

One embodiment may include passing values with the ad request for an adidentifying the consumer web site, as demonstrated above in the HTML getmethod included in the portion of the uniform resource locator (URL),“S=1”. This may indicate that the request for an ad originates from acontent provider node 130 that has been assigned an identificationnumber of “1” by database server 141 b, or some other portion of the adselection node 140. In FIG. 1, various servers 131 of content providernode 130 may be assigned different identification numbers, ornon-numerical identifiers. Alternatively, various pages or sections ofcontent of servers 131 may be assigned different identification numbers,or non-numerical identifiers, or even multiple identifiers. Using theHTML get method and identifiers is just one example of how informationmay be passed with the ad request and should not be viewed as limiting.Any means known in the art may be employed to pass such information.

The content served by ad selection node 140 may be in the form of aportion of or a complete hypertext markup language (HTML) web page, aportion of or a complete web page containing dynamic content as might beprovided by a technology such as Flash, an advertising tag or banner fora networked service such as instant messaging, a portion of or acomplete short messaging service (SMS) advertising message, a portion ofor a complete wireless application protocol (WAP) site or service, orany other form of advertising on a consumer networked site or serviceknown in the art.

Another example involves a distribution of targeted ads when the userselects to receive broadcast information from content provider node 130.One example of such a process would include receiving audio content andan audio ad, sent over satellite radio, broadcast into a mobile vehicle.In one embodiment, a multiplexing scheme may be employed to sendmultiple different signals representing advertisements over the sameradio channel. One such multiplexing scheme might include TDMA. Usingthis scheme a variety of time slots may be specified, each intended fora specific demographic. If a targeted ad exists for one of thedemographic slots, ad selection node 140 may send it on that slot. If notargeted ad exists, ad selection node 140 may pass on serving into thatslot, allowing a general or default ad to be sent. User at some pointtunes in to the broadcast channel on which this system 100 is running.The broadcast includes a segment in which an advertisement will beplayed, and the broadcast signal may indicate that an ad is to beserved. Alternatively, and potentially based upon the multiplexingscheme employed, the radio receiver used by user may automaticallydetermine that an ad is being served without it being specificallyindicated in the broadcast signal. The radio receiver, or a deviceavailable to the radio receiver then determines the current demographicsassociated with the network node it represents. This demographicdetermination might include information about user taken at the time ofsubscription to the satellite radio service that is stored or programmedinto the receiver or associated device. Also, the receiver or associateddevice may include global positioning system (GPS) capability, and adetermination of current location may be used in part or solely in thedemographic determination. Based on the demographic determination, theradio receiver or associated device can select the appropriate signalout of the multiplexed signal, decoding a particular ad signal. The usermay then receive the decoded ad signal as an ad.

While this embodiment was described as a satellite radio broadcast, itwill be apparent to one skilled in the art that similar processes may beused in the delivery of an ad sent over digital television, or any othernetwork broadcast.

FIG. 26 illustrates computer software employed in the telecommunicationsystem 430 of FIG. 1. An advertiser indexing module 142 is a uniquesoftware package of server 141 for implementing several stages of anadvertiser indexing routine 430 as shown in FIG. 27. During a stage S432of routine 430, a newspaper publisher of a newspaper having a region ofcommercial influence (e.g., region RCI in FIG. 5), a manager of webserver 131, and ad advertiser of the newspaper are enlisted tofacilitate an on-line advertising of one or more advertisements of theadvertiser on telecommunication system 100. In one embodiment of stageS432, the newspaper publisher contacts each advertiser of the newspaperto ascertain any interest in advertising on web pages of contentproviders of telecommunication system 100 such as web site server 20.

During a stage S434 of routine 430, module 142 transmits a data requestDR to DB6 seeking geographical information related to the region ofcommercial influence of the newspaper. In one embodiment of stage S434,the data request DR specifically seeks all zip codes within the regionof commercial influence of the newspaper. During a stage S436 of routine430, module 142 receives geographical data GD₁ from DB6 that is relatedto the region of commercial influence of the newspaper. In oneembodiment of stage S434, the geographical data GD₁ includes all zipcodes within the region of commercial influence of the newspaper.

During a stage S438 of routine 430, module 142 transmits an advertiserrecord AR_(X) to DB6 that includes geographical data GD₁ and anadvertising package of the advertiser to be displayed intelecommunication system 430. In one embodiment of stage S438,advertiser record AR_(X) further includes a unique identifier for theadvertiser, a pointer to the appropriate advertising package, the dateand time of the last impression, the number of impressions made in thistimeframe, the minimum number of impressions that should be made in eachrecognized timeframe, and the maximum number of impressions that may bemade in each recognized timeframe. Module 142 terminates routine 430upon completion of stage S438. Those having ordinary skill in the artwill appreciate the efficiency, convenience, and cost benefits ofroutine 430 to newspapers, web site servers such as server 131, andadvertisers involved with the display of ads on telecommunication system430.

Referring again to FIG. 26, an Internet browser 124 is a conventionalsoftware package of workstation 123 for implementing a routine 440 (FIG.28) that enables consumer to provide a web address in the form of aUniform Resource Locator (URL) corresponding to website server 131during a stage S442 of routine 440 whereby the consumer can downloadinformation over a web page WP from website server 131 during a stageS444 of routine 440. An Internet engine 132 is a conventional softwarepackage of website server 131 for implementing a routine 450 (FIG. 28)that provides a user signal in the form of an Internet Protocol addressIP to server 141 in response to a reception of Uniform Resource Locator(URL) during a stage S122 of routine 120 whereby web site server 131 cantransmit a web page WP having an advertisement package AP_(X) thereinduring a stage S124 of routine 120.

A web interface 143 and ad scheduling module 144 may be unique softwarepackages of server 141 for implementing a routine 460 (FIG. 28) thatprovides the Internet Protocol address IP to server 151 in response to areception of the Internet Protocol address IP during a stage S462 ofroutine 460 whereby module 144 can transmits advertising package AP_(X)in digitized form including images, animations, videos, text, software,and/or sounds during a stage S466 of routine 450. Location mapper module152 is a conventional software package such as that provided by Quova,Inc., for implementing a routine 470 (FIG. 28) that maps InternetProtocol address IP to corresponding geographical information to therebyreturn geographical data GD₂ including a description of a presumedgeographical location of personal computer 123 during a stage S474 ofroutine 470 in response to a reception of Internet Protocol address IPduring a stage S472 of routine 470. In one embodiment of module 152,geographical data GD₂ includes information related to the presumedgeographical location of personal computer 123 such as the continent,the time zone, the U.S. state (if appropriate), the city, the latitude,the longitude, the U.S. zip code (if appropriate), the Designated MarketArea (DMA), the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), and the PrimaryMetropolitan Statistical Area (PSMA).

Module 144 implements a subroutine 480 during a stage S464 of routine470 in response to a reception of the geographical data GD₂ from server151 to identify and retrieve advertising package AP_(X) from DB6. Oneembodiment of subroutine 480 is shown as subroutine 490 in FIG. 29.During a stage S492 of subroutine 160, module 144 transmits a locationidentifier LI and a timeframe identifier T1 to DB6. In one embodiment ofstage S492, location identifier LI identifies all zip codes containedwithin geographical data GD₂ as received by module 144. Additionally,timeframe identifier TI identifies the timeframe (e.g., a day and anhour) upon which interface 143 and module 144 received Internet Protocoladdress AP from server 131.

During a stage S494 of subroutine 490, module 144 receives advertisingpackage AP_(X) from DB5. In one embodiment of stage S494, one or moreadvertiser records corresponding to identifier LI and timeframeidentifier TI are listed within DB5 with a marking indicating the dateand time of the last impression. As a result, advertising package AP_(X)is retrieved from an advertising record that is marked as the nextrecord to be displayed. Module 144 terminates subroutine 490 uponcompletion of stage 164. Those having ordinary skill in the art willappreciate the efficiency, convenience, and cost benefits of routine440, routine 450, routine 460, and routine 470 to consumers, newspapers,web site servers such as server 131, and advertisers involved with thedisplay of ads on telecommunication system 100.

In one embodiment, content provider node 130 may continue to serveadvertisements of their choosing if ad selection node 140 can notascertain the location of the end user node 120 or if ad selection node140 does not contain an advertisement for the location of the end usernode 120. In one embodiment, the default advertisement, that which ischosen by content provider node 130, will be served automatically by adselection node 140. In one embodiment, ad selection node 140 may selecta non-location based advertisement in the event that ad selection node140 cannot ascertain the location of the end user node, or if adselection node 140 does not contain an advertisement for the location ofthe end user node. In one embodiment, no advertisement may be served inthe event that ad selection node 140 cannot ascertain the location ofthe end user node, or if ad selection node 140 does not contain anadvertisement for the location of the end user node.

In one embodiment, multiple advertisements may be available in adselection node 140 for a web site and location combination. In oneembodiment, all available advertisements for a web site and locationcombination may be served in a round robin manner. In one embodiment,the round robin will be over all impressions entering the system. In oneembodiment, the round robin may be over only impressions served to anindividual end user node. In one embodiment, statistical weights, ornumbers associated with a greater or smaller statistical likelihood thatan advertisement will be served, may be assigned to each advertisement.When multiple advertisements are available for a web site and locationcombination, the statistical weights of all available advertisements maybe used in conjunction with a random number generator to choose whichadvertisement may be served. In one embodiment, advertisements sold by aprimary may be given a higher statistical weight than that of asecondary. In one embodiment, advertisements sold by a primary may begiven a higher statistical weight when being served inside of thatprimary's area of commercial influence. In one embodiment,advertisements that are to be served within a defined time frame may begiven heavy statistical weight to provide greater probability that theadvertisement will be served during the defined time even if otheradvertisements are available. In one embodiment, an advertisement may begiven different statistical weights on different web sites or web sitecategories. In one embodiment combinations of defined time and primarystatus may be given higher statistical weight than one without primarystatus. Many algorithms and statistical weight assignments may beemployed to give priority to preferred advertisements, be thatpreferment based on advertiser, broker of the advertisement sale,location, time sensitivity, or any combination of these or otherfactors.

For example, ad selection node 140 may hold the followingadvertisements: an advertisement A0, sold on a total number ofimpressions basis, to be served anywhere; an advertisement A1 sold by asecondary, sold on a total number of impressions basis, to be served inChicago, Ill.; an advertisement A2, sold by a primary, sold on a totalnumber of impressions basis, to be served in Chicago, Ill.; anadvertisement A3 sold by a secondary, sold on a total number ofimpressions basis, to be served in zip code 60614 only; an advertisementA4 sold by a primary, sold into a particular time block, to be served inChicago, Ill.; and an advertisement A5 sold by a primary, sold into aparticular time block, to be served in zip code 60614 only. When a usernode hits the system from zip code 60614 any of the above listed ads maybe served. The statistical weighting may be handled in the followingmanner. A0 may be assigned a weight of 1, as it is at a global level andsold by a secondary. A1 may be assigned the higher weight of 3, as it issold at the city level, which is a more precise location than requiredby A0. A2 may be assigned a weight of 6, as it is both at the city leveland sold by a primary as opposed to a secondary. In this example,advertisements sold by a primary may receive a multiplier of 2 over theweight they would receive as sold by a secondary. A3 may be assigned aweight of 5, accounting for greater precision than A1, but lower than A2as it was not sold by a primary. A4 may be assigned a weight of 600, asit must be served only within a particular time frame it must be heavilyweighted. In this example, time sensitive advertisements may receive amultiplier of 100 over the weight they would receive if sold on a numberof impressions basis. A5 may be assigned a weight of 250 as it is bothtime sensitive and requires a high level of location precision. All ofthese weights may be added together (1+3+6+5+600+250) to create thetotal statistical pool, or the size of the advertisement lottery so tospeak. The total size in this case is 1615. On a statistical basis thismeans that over time A5 may be served 250 out of every 1615 times, oralmost 62% of the time. A4 may be served 600 out of every 1615 times, orapproximately 37% of the time. And so on for the other advertisements.All of this statistical weighting may be based on a defined set ofadjustable business rules and may be automatically and dynamicallyassigned before or during the ad serving process.

In another embodiment, the statistical weighting may take into accountthe price paid for the advertisements. For example, an advertisementthat was purchased at a $5 CPM would not be as likely to be served asone purchased at $10 CPM. In another embodiment, the pricing for theindividual advertisement may be calculated based solely or in part onthe statistical weighting associated with it. For example, anadvertisement that is only able to be served into a single zip code andonly during a one hour period on a single site would cost significantlymore than an advertisement that could be broadcast anywhere in an entirestate, or over a period of weeks.

The concept of preferential serving into geographic locations wasdiscussed previously. Another embodiment of the invention allows forpreferential serving to any of the other definable characteristics of anadvertisement. A company might be given preferential placement on anindividual site or category of sites, such as the Green Bay Packerswebsite, www.packers.com. In another embodiment, a company might begiven preferential placement based on a time, such as ESPN requestinglate night preferential placement of a Sports Center advertisement. Inanother embodiment, a company might be given preferential placementbased on one or more demographics, such as the NAACP may be givenpreferential placement in geographic locations with higherconcentrations of African Americans. Combinations of these factors mayalso describe a preferential placement, such as Comedy Centralrequesting preferential placement on the Green Bay Packers and other NFLwebsites, during the hours preceding and during the Super Bowl toadvertise an alternative halftime show on their channel. Preferentialplacement arrangements may be handled on an individual ad basis usingsome statistical method, such as the ones described above. Preferentialplacement arrangements may be also granted on a larger scale foradvertisers, in a manner similar to primary area classifications, suchas those described above.

As has been previously noted, there are a variety of businessrelationship and network configuration possibilities in terms of theimplementation of ad selection node 140. Several embodiments have beendescribed in which the code requesting an ad from ad selection node 140is hardcoded into the pages on content provider node 130. Ad selectionnode 140, regardless of whether an ad is in inventory, must handle therequest. In another embodiment, some determination as to theavailability of a targeted ad may be made prior to the request beingpassed to ad selection node 140. For example, an XML service may beenabled that allows code on content provider node 130 to check theavailability of an ad at ad selection node 140 for a received request.This may be achieved by making a direct request for this informationwith each ad request received at content provider node 130.Alternatively, some or all of the information relating to theavailability of ads may be stored locally at content provider node 130.This information may be stored in memory, held on disk in a variety offormats, stored in a local database table, or any other method as wouldoccur to one of ordinary skill in the art. This information may also becached in memory on ad selection node 140 to speed retrieval. Thisinformation may be updated based on either a time period passing, anumber of impressions occurring, a rate at which impressions areoccurring, a combination of these, or none of these.

In one embodiment, data transfers, such as with XML and perhaps usingSOAP or another protocol, may be employed to transfer informationregarding demographics, advertisements, and the availability ofadvertisements between the TPAS, targeted ad server and content sitenodes. Exemplary data transfer models would enable previously describedportions of the business logic to be pushed to these various nodes.Hardware, software and platform specific packages may be designed suchthat it is unnecessary to pass each request to the primary targeted adserving node. In one embodiment, a client application package on acontent site could access a data package representing the availabilityof geographically and/or demographically targeted ads for a partial orcomplete set of the possible geographic and demographic combinations.This data package may represent those ads available only for thatparticular content site, limiting the size of the data package that mustbe transferred and held by the client application package on the contentsite. In one embodiment, the targeted advertisements, or references tothe targeted advertisements may be additionally stored on the clientapplication package. In one embodiment, the client application packagemay be installed on the content site's servers. In an alternativeembodiment, targeted ad server may supply the content site with apackage to be run on a separate server local or at least dedicated tothat content site. The separate server may be owned and operated byeither the targeted ad server, the content site, or managed inconjunction.

In the embodiment that enables such data transfers, a pull and pushsystem for information updates may be defined by an API, and implementedusing any variety of business rules. In one embodiment, a data pushand/or pull of the availability of advertisements, and possibly a recordof impressions received by the content site, are performed in atime-scheduled manner. In an alternative embodiment, the push and/orpull may be performed based on a threshold number of advertisementimpressions served by the content site. The advantage achieved bypushing information relating to the availability of ads for a particularcontent site, geographic, and demographic closer to the content site isthat it allows targeted ad server to handle requests that result in ahigher percentage of targeted advertisements served.

Further, ad selection node 140 is capable of passing other informationto and from other nodes of telecommunication system 110. For example,information regarding ad impressions, click-throughs, printing ofcoupons, or other details related to serving of ads may be passedimmediately or asynchronously to any other nodes.

Right of First Refusal

FIGS. 31-35 illustrates a variety of the business arrangements andcombinations of services that may be involved in the function oftargeted ad server 141 a (FIG. 3), content server 131 a (FIG. 2) andthird party ad server (“TASP”) 131 b (FIG. 2). For example, FIG. 31illustrates an embodiment in which targeted ad server 141 a may own oroperate some form of content server 131 a. In such an embodiment, thecontent, and all ad serving is handled through the targeted ad server.

In another embodiment as illustrated in FIG. 32, targeted ad server 141a may again own or operate some form of content server 131 a, but inthis embodiment a relationship exists with TPAS 131 b. The content siteowned or operated by targeted ad server 141 a may pass a request for anad to the portion of targeted ad server 141 a that determines whether atargeted ad exists in its inventory for the given network request. Thedetermination process to be discussed in greater detail later. Based onthe determination, targeted ad server 141 a may serve an ad from itsinventory or pass the request on to TPAS 131 b.

FIG. 33 illustrates a first embodiment that includes a separate contentserver 131 a. This embodiment is essentially similar to FIG. 31, but thecontent server 131 a is not owned or operated by targeted ad server 141a.

FIG. 34 illustrates an embodiment in which content server 131 a has arelationship with targeted ad server 141 a and TPAS 131 b. In thisembodiment, the content server 131 a might be a web site including atleast one web page that includes code requesting an advertisement fromtargeted ad server 141 a. Every request for an ad may be passed totargeted ad server 141 a, or the requests may be on some periodic,rotational, or statistically calculated basis. Upon receiving therequest, targeted ad server 141 a determines whether a targeted adexists in its inventory for the given network request. Based on thisdetermination, targeted ad server 141 a may serve an ad from itsinventory or pass the request on to a page hosted on content server 131a defining a default ad to serve, or passing the request directly toTPAS 131 b as specified by content server 131 a.

FIG. 35 illustrates another embodiment, this time wherein TPAS 131 b andtargeted ad server 141 a have a relationship. In this embodiment,content server 131 a may be unaware of the existence of targeted adserver 141 a. Its relationship may be with TPAS 131 b. Content server131 a requests an ad from TPAS 131 b. The request to TPAS 131 b mayactually in effect be a request to targeted ad server 115. This might beachieved by masking the direct request to the targeted ad server byusing a domain name of TPAS 131 b pointing to a server running targetedad server 141 a. Alternatively, TPAS 131 b may receive the ad request,call targeted ad server 141 a, and serve an ad from one of the twoservers based on the availability of a targeted ad. Again, every requestmay be passed to targeted ad server 141 a, or they may be passed on someperiodic, rotational, or statistically calculated basis.

FIG. 36 illustrates an embodiment very similar to FIG. 35, but in thiscase content server 131 a has a relationship with targeted ad server 141a, and content server 131 a may be unaware of the relationship thatexists between targeted ad server 141 a and TPAS 131 b. In thisembodiment, targeted ad server 141 a receives the ad requests first.Again using the example of an ad served with web content, content server131 a might include code requesting an ad from targeted ad server 141 a.Targeted ad server 141 a then determines whether an appropriate adexists in its inventory, and based on this determination it serveseither a targeted ad or forwards the request to TPAS 131 b.

Some content sites use content management systems, or other software tomanage ad serving in-house. In one embodiment, targeted ad server 141 amay work in conjunction with the producer of the content managementsystem to provide means to more easily enable managing default ads whenemploying the targeted ad system. Such means might include automaticallysupplying a URL for a default request, supplying a back door page orprogram to receive information such as click-through registering forhits as they occur, or other such conveniences.

The embodiments shown in FIGS. 31-36 illustrate targeted ad server 141 aas a concept and product that may be described as aright-of-first-refusal ad server (RFRAS). For the purposes of thisapplication RFRAS is defined as an ad server that, based on some ruleset, makes a determination as to whether it should serve a targeted ador pass on the opportunity. In one embodiment, targeted ad server 141 ais an RFRAS, and in this case may be referred to as RFRAS 141A.

RFRAS 141A exists to facilitate the cooperative uses of the advertiser,agent of the advertiser, content server 131 a, and TPAS 131 b. By actingas an intermediary, RFRAS 141A allows each entity to continue to focuson core competencies. In other words, the advertiser may now be offerednetwork advertising, interfaces for interacting with the creation anddefinition of network advertising, all in a targeted manner previouslyunavailable for network advertising. Agent of the advertiser, in thecase that they are a traditional publication, may continue to focustheir ad sales on a geographic area relevant to their standardadvertising clients. Minimally, they are provided with an additionaloutlet to sell advertisements for. Content server 131 a may benefit fromhigher revenues related to the higher revenues anticipated for the saleof targeted advertising. Content server 131 a may also see intangiblebenefits related to more a more satisfied user, as the advertisingmessages presented to user may be more relevant. Allowing content server131 a to continue to use their existing ad serving solution in the eventthat there is no ad available on RFRAS 141A may ensure that there is noloss involved in employing the RFRAS solution. TPAS may continue tofocus on selling and providing general advertisements, or advertisementsfocused in a similar or different manner than those on RFRAS 141A.

Depending on the type of device and network user employs, RFRAS 141A mayuse two primary methods to serve targeted ads. In the one case, user mayrequest content from content server 131 a, in the other case user maychoose to receive broadcast information from content server 131 a.

In an embodiment wherein content provider node 130 dynamically generatesits content, much of the logic described as being performed in adselection node 140 may be may be pushed to the content provider. In thecase of providing web content, and in the case that the content is notdynamically generated, an iframe allows ad selection node 140 to reserveour position in the page to serve an ad. By serving up another iframe asthe content provided by ad selection node 140, the control of that adposition is effectively passed on to another server. Using this method,any content site using standard html may employ the RFRAS system of adselection node 140.

In one embodiment the request for an ad received by the targeted adserver may include instructions relating to what default ad serviceshould be called in the event no ad is available, or at least mayinclude parameters to be passed to the default ad service.

Demographic Determination Process

The ad selection node 140 and the content provider node 130 may bedesigned and configured in any form that may lead to the serving of anad. This may be done by a request to a common gateway interface (CGI)script, java servlet, or any other means known in the art. Oneembodiment may include a page request to an ad service servlet that maypass the request on to an internal ad serving program. The request to adselection node 140 and the content provider node 130 may include the IPaddress of the user node 120, and this information may be passed on toad serving program. Ad serving program may pass the IP address to useridentification node 150 and may receive geographic location informationback from user identification node 150. One embodiment of the presentinvention provides for multiple alternative means of establishing thelocation of an end user node. In one embodiment, a cookie may be droppedassociated with the ad server that holds zip code, city, state, or anyother standard or custom designation of location. The cookie may alsohold some confidence level associated with how strongly the system mayassume that the given location is accurate. In one embodiment, the enduser may designate the location of an end user node specifically, or thelocation may be specified by some service holding end user informationsuch as, for example, Hailstorm, which is currently under commercialdevelopment by Microsoft. In one embodiment, after the location of anend user node has been established, by whatever means chosen, thelocation information may be stored in temporary memory on the ad serverfor a period of time. This temporary storage may be associated with theindividual user by IP address, and may be released after a configurableperiod of inactivity from that IP address. In one embodiment, thelocation information may be stored in a database associated with adserving program, whether that information was collected from ageolocation service like Quova, Inc. or Hailstorm, from the end userherself, or by any other means known in the art. In one embodiment, anynumber of the above techniques may be employed together, orindividually. When multiple means are used, the ad serving program mayuse any system to select which means to used or in what order they arechecked. In one embodiment the ad serving program may first check for anin memory session associated with the end user node. If no location isascertainable by this means the program may check an internal databaseholding previously established mappings between IP address and location.If again no location is ascertainable by this means the program may callthe Quova, Inc. geolocation service. The geographic location may bepassed by ad serving program in a request to ad selection node 140. Manypieces of information may be passed to ad selection node 140 including,but not limited to, the IP address of the user node that may have madethe initial request from content provider node 130, informationidentifying content provider node 130 as an additional source of therequest, geolocation information returned by user identification node150, geolocation provided by content provider node 130, or by end usernode 120.

Previously examples were given of code included on content provider node130 that requests an ad from ad selection node 140. It should berecognized that even using such static code, many more pieces ofinformation may be passed from content provider node 130 to ad selectionnode 140. Information passed along with the ad request might include thesection of a site or the page of a site on which the ad is to bedisplayed. The information might include information held on the siteregarding the user, this information gathered in a profile, collectedfrom a form, or just an identifier used by the site to identify saiduser. The information might include URLs that may indicate the desiredlocation for ad redirect in the event ad selection node 140 selects notto serve an ad, or may indicate the desired location for a call toindicate to content provider node 130 that the user interacted with aserved ad (submitted a form, clicked a banner, printed a coupon, etc.).These pieces of information are only exemplary, and others may occur toone skilled in the art.

The passing of information from content provider node 130 to adselection node 140 may be achieved using querystring variables,variables sent using the post method, or using a different means ofcommunications such as an XML data transfer or request. Alternatively,other protocols or means of communication over network 110 orout-of-band communication may be employed to transfer informationrelating to the user.

If a complete table of IP Address to geographic locations is maintainedas the primary means of determining the geographic location (i.e. adselection node 140 looks up this information from the table on everyimpression), the geographic locations associated with the IP Address maybe updated using a variety of means. If using Quova, or a similarservice, the update may be based on the threshold returned, if a certainperiod of time has passed since the information was established, or maybe pushed or pulled when the initial source or some other source has apotentially more accurate and updated location associated with one ofthe stored values.

Reporting Process

As a value added, the ad selection node 140 may communicate to thecontent provider node 130 the geographic location, or other userinformation stored on the targeted ad server 141 a. This may be doneimmediately on reception of the request, may contain some key toindicate to the web site which of their users it is, and may becommunicated over public networks, private networks, or private session(VPN).

In one embodiment, telecommunication system 100 may also provide a dataservice to participating consumer web sites. Data from the USCB or someother source may be incorporated with advertisement impression andlocation information. Together this packaged data may give consumer websites an indication of their impression distribution by location, and bydemographic data associated with those locations. This information maybe given or sold to the consumer web sites participating intelecommunication system 100.

Billing Process

One embodiment of the current invention provides a method for dividingthe revenue earned through advertisement delivery. In one embodiment therevenue earned may vary based upon advertisement type, the location intowhich the advertisement is served, and the advertiser, publication ormedia company that sold the advertisement. In one embodiment, anadvertisement may not be sold into a primary area by a publication,media company, or advertiser that does not hold the primary status inthat area. In one embodiment, an advertisement may be sold into aprimary area by a publication, media company, or advertiser that doesnot hold the primary status in that area, but the company that purchasedthe advertisement may be charged a flat fee or percentage of the overalladvertising revenue to serve into that primary area. In one embodiment,a database and software solution may automatically calculate any chargesor credits relating to primary and secondary status. The database andsoftware solution may automatically generate billing statements foradvertisers, publications and media companies registered with adselection node 140.

FIG. 30 is a map of the state of Illinois containing outlined areas ofcommercial influence for five fictitious advertisers or publications.One embodiment of the invention may provide publications with certaindistribution advantages associated with advertisements served on thenetwork 110, these advantages being referred to as holding primarystatus over an area. Those advertisers or publications that have beenawarded such advantage may be referred to as primaries in recognition oftheir primary status. Those advertisers or publications not holdingprimary status over their area of influence may be referred to assecondaries. Area P1 and area P2 represent the areas of commercialinfluence for two primaries. Area CP1 represents the overlapping areasof commercial influence for the primaries holding areas P1 and P2. AreasS1, S2, and S3 represent the areas of influence for three secondaryadvertisers or publications.

In one example, a billing statement for the advertiser or publicationwith area of influence P1 may include billing information foradvertisements that were served in areas P1, P2 (the portion not inCP1), CP1, and S1. In one embodiment of this example, the advertiser orpublication with area of influence P1 may receive full income foradvertisements served in areas P1 and S1 because those areas are withinthe advertiser's or publication's primary area or are not in a primaryarea at all. Areas P2 and CP1 may be handled in multiple ways. In oneembodiment, advertiser or publication with area of influence P1 wouldnot be charged for serving into areas P2 or CP1 solely because it is aprimary. In one embodiment advertiser or publication with area ofinfluence P1 may be charged for serving into area P2 because that isanother advertiser or publication's primary area. Advertisements servedinto area CP1 by advertiser or publication with area of influence P1 maybe charged because it is within another advertiser's or publication'sprimary area, or may not be charged because it is still within theprimary area of P1.

In another example, a billing statement for advertiser or publicationwith area of influence S1 may include billing information foradvertisements served in areas P1, CP1, and S1. In one embodimentadvertiser or publication with area of influence S1 may serve withinarea S1 without incurring any charge.

In one embodiment, the same flat fee or percentage may be charged toadvertiser or publication with area of influence S1 for serving intoareas P1 or CP1 because at least one advertiser or publication holdsprimary status over each area. In one embodiment, a double charge may beplaced on advertisements served into area CP1 because it is within bothprimary area P1 and primary area P2.

In another example, a billing statement for advertiser or publicationwith area of influence S2 may include billing information foradvertisements served in areas P1 (not in S2), S2, and S1. In oneembodiment, advertiser or publication with area of influence S2 may notbe charged for serving into area S1 because it is not within a primaryarea. In one embodiment, advertiser or publication with area ofinfluence S2 may be charged for serving into area P1 (not in S2) becauseit is within a primary area. In one embodiment, advertiser orpublication with area of influence S2 may be charged for serving intoarea S2 because it is within primary area P1. In one embodiment,advertiser or publication with area of influence S2 may not be chargedfor serving into area S2 because it is within that advertiser orpublication's area of influence.

In another example, a billing statement for advertiser or publicationwith area of influence S3 may include billing information foradvertisements served in area S3. In one embodiment, advertiser orpublication with area of influence S3 may not be charged foradvertisements served into area S3 because it is within that advertiseror publication's area of influence. In one embodiment, advertiser orpublication with area of influence S3 may be charged a flat fee orpercentage for serving into area S3 because it is within at least oneadvertiser or publication's primary area. In one embodiment, advertiseror publication with area of influence S3 may be charged a double flatfee or percentage for serving into area S3 because it is within twoadvertiser or publication's primary areas.

The database and software solution may implement any of the aboveembodiments, any combination of the above embodiments, or other possibleembodiments in calculating billing information for each advertiser orpublication or media company. In one embodiment, a bill may includeseparate sections for categories such as: advertisements served into theadvertiser or publication's primary area or a non-primary area, sold bythat advertiser or publication; advertisements served into theadvertiser or publication's primary area by another advertiser orpublication; and advertisements served into another advertiser orpublication's primary area.

While the above method of defining primary areas and the accountingmethods associated with those primary areas has focused on publicationand media companies, similar concepts may be applied in a variety ofways. Primary status over an area may be held by other companies,individuals or other entities that may claim a specifiable area ofinfluence. Primary status may also be granted regardless of area ofinfluence, but on a purchasable basis—set fee or auction based—or bysome other means of determination. For example, one embodiment mightallow a franchisee to hold primary status over the area in which theyretail products or services. In another embodiment, primary status overan area may be held by a local government in their area of jurisdiction.Primary status over an area, as it may include a percentage of earningsfor any ad broadcast into that area, may be viewed as a purchasableand/or tradable commodity, may be granted indefinitely or only over aspecific time period, and may be granted on a transferable ornon-transferable basis. The sale of primary status, on the basis of itspotential future revenues, may also be used as an alternative means toraise capital, as opposed to selling equity in the ad serving companyitself.

ADDITIONAL EMBODIMENTS

Telecommunications system 100 as described above includes many variousmethods and uses of sending targeted ads. Further examples will now bedescribed to detail some of the additional features and capabilities ofsuch as system.

In one embodiment, multiple advertising package opportunities may beavailable to an advertiser on ad selection node 140. While there aremany different options, four possible scenarios are as follows:

First, advertisers who distribute and/or provide their goods or servicesexclusively from a single geographic location within an individualMetropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), and seek to advertise such goodsand services exclusively within said MSA, ad selection node 140 mayprovide a method by which the advertiser may advertise such Client'sgoods or services, and/or promotions and the like relating to such goodsor services, on web sites signed up within the advertising network whensuch web sites are visited by persons physically located within such MSAexclusively.

By way of example, advertisers with passenger airlines as clients, suchas United, American or Delta, who offer their air transport services tothe population of an entire MSA from a single location, such as GeneralMitchell International Airport in Milwaukee, Wis., could conduct apromotion(s) on the airline's behalf through said method which maypublicize the sale of an airfare from Milwaukee to a remote destination,such as Phoenix.

Second, advertisers who distribute and/or provide their goods orservices from more than one geographic location within an individualMSA, and seek to advertise such goods and services exclusively withinsaid MSA, ad selection node 140 may provide a method by which theadvertiser may advertise such Client's goods or services, throughintra-MSA location-specific or intra-MSA location-agnostic promotions,and/or promotions and the like relating to such goods or services, onweb sites signed up within the advertising network when such web sitesare: (1) visited by persons physically located within such MSAexclusively; or (2) visited by persons physically located within aselect distance from one or more of said advertiser's geographiclocations.

By way of example, advertising agencies with fast food restaurants asclients, such as McDonald's, Burger King or Wendy's, who offer theirfood products to the populations of entire MSAs through multiplelocations, such as McDonald's of Evanston, Ill., McDonald's of Wilmetteand McDonald's of Winnetka, could conduct location-specific promotionson the restaurant's behalf through said method, which could publicize,for example, a “Buy One Get One Free Hamburger—only at McDonald's ofWinnetka” available exclusively at the McDonald's of Winnetka location.Alternatively, the advertising agency could conduct a location-agnosticpromotion, such as “Buy One Get One Free Hamburger—at any participatingChicago-area McDonald's”, whereby said promotion could be advertised onthe web sites of the advertising network to the entire MSA viewing area.

Third, advertisers who distribute and/or provide their goods or servicesexclusively from a single geographic location within an individualMetropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), and seek to advertise throughoutmultiple MSAs, ad selection node 140 may provide a method by which theadvertiser may advertise such Client's goods or services, and/orpromotions and the like relating to such goods or services, on web sitessigned up within the advertising network when such web sites are visitedby persons physically located throughout multiple MSAs.

By way of example, advertisers with passenger airlines as clients, suchas United, American or Delta, who offer their air transport services tothe populations of multiple MSAs from single locations within eachindividual MSA, such as General Mitchell International Airport in theMilwaukee, Wis., MSA and O'Hare International Airport in the Chicago,Ill., MSA could conduct a promotion(s) on the airline's behalf throughsaid method which would publicize that all United flights will providegratuitous in-flight meals from May 1 through September 1, irrespectiveof where the flight originates or arrives.

Fourth, advertisers who distribute and/or provide their goods orservices from more than one geographic location within an individualMSA, and seek to advertise throughout multiple MSAs, ad selection node140 may provide a method by which the advertiser may advertise suchClient's goods or services, through inter-MSA location-specific orinter-MSA location-agnostic promotions, and/or promotions and the likerelating to such goods or services, on web sites signed up within theadvertising network when such web sites are: (1) visited by personsphysically located throughout one of the multiple MSAs; or (2) visitedby persons physically located within a select distance from one or moreof said advertiser's geographic locations across multiple MSAs.

By way of example, advertising agencies with fast food restaurants asclients, such as McDonald's, Burger King or Wendy's, who offer theirfood products to the populations of entire MSAs through multiplelocations, such as McDonald's of Evanston, Ill., McDonald's of Wilmetteand McDonald's of Winnetka, could conduct MSA-agnostic promotions on therestaurant's behalf through said method, which could publicize, forexample, a “Free Beenie Baby w/ Every Purchase” available exclusivelyfor a limited time at any participating McDonald's in the Midwest, orother participating locations.

On embodiment of the invention is shown in Appendix A.

We claim:
 1. A method of receiving targeted advertisements from abroadcast content provider, the method comprising: selecting a contentchannel at a user device node; receiving a broadcast content signal atthe user device node from a broadcast content provider node based on theselected content channel; receiving multiple broadcast advertisementsignals at the user device node; determining at least one currentdemographic associated with the user device node; selecting onebroadcast advertisement signal from the multiple broadcast advertisementsignals at the user device node based on the determined demographic; andproviding the advertisement associated with the selected broadcastadvertisement signal at the user device node.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the broadcast content signal comprises the multiple broadcastadvertisement signals.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiplebroadcast advertisement signals are broadcast simultaneously.
 4. Themethod of claim 1, wherein a multiplexed channel comprises the multiplebroadcast advertisement signals.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein themultiplexed channel is time-division multiplexed.
 6. The method of claim4, wherein the multiplexed channel is code-division multiplexed.
 7. Themethod of claim 1, wherein each broadcast advertisement signal isassociated with one or more demographics.
 8. The method of claim 1,wherein the user device node utilizes GPS for determining the at leastone current demographic.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcastcontent signal includes an indication that an advertisement is to beserved.
 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising: associating auser profile with the user device node, wherein determining at least onecurrent demographic is based on the user profile.
 11. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the content channel is provided on a subscription basisfrom the broadcast content provider.
 12. The method of claim 11, furthercomprising: associating a user profile with the user device node,wherein determining at least one current demographic is based on theuser profile, wherein the user profile is associated with a usersubscription to the broadcast content provider.
 13. The method of claim1, wherein the broadcast content signal is a radio broadcast.
 14. Themethod of claim 11, wherein the radio broadcast is a satellite radiobroadcast.
 15. The method of claim 1, wherein the broadcast contentsignal is a digital television broadcast.
 16. A user device forreceiving targeted advertisements from a broadcast content provider, theuser device comprising: a processor; and a processor-readable storagemedium, the processor-readable storage medium comprisingprocessor-executable program code for executing a method comprising:selecting a content channel; receiving a broadcast content signal from abroadcast content provider node based on the selected content channel;receiving multiple broadcast advertisement signals; determining at leastone current demographic associated with the user device; selecting onebroadcast advertisement signal from the multiple broadcast advertisementsignals based on the determined demographic; and providing theadvertisement associated with the selected broadcast advertisementsignal.
 17. A method of delivering targeted advertisements from abroadcast content provider, the method comprising: broadcasting contentfrom a broadcast content provider node, wherein the content comprisesmultiple broadcast advertisement signals; selecting a content channel ata user device node; receiving a broadcast content signal at the userdevice node from a broadcast content provider node based on the selectedcontent channel; receiving multiple broadcast advertisement signals atthe user device node; determining at least one current demographicassociated with the user device node; selecting one broadcastadvertisement signal from the multiple broadcast advertisement signalsat the user device node based on the determined demographic; andproviding the advertisement associated with the selected broadcastadvertisement signal at the user device node.
 18. The method of claim17, wherein a multiplexed channel comprises the multiple broadcastadvertisement signals.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein the contentchannel is provided on a subscription basis from the broadcast contentprovider.
 20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: associating auser profile with the user device node, wherein determining at least onecurrent demographic is based on the user profile, wherein the userprofile is associated with a user subscription to the broadcast contentprovider.